Neal: Lobos aren’t quitting
Coach insists he won’t change course, even after lopsided defeat
When you’ve just won a game over an oldtime rival 77-46, as No. 18 Arizona’s Sean Miller did Tuesday night over the New Mexico Lobos, speaking about using nonconference play to “figure things out” is a lot easier for fans to hear.
Spreading that same message as the coach on the wrong end of that 31-point loss, however, when your team sits with a 7-5 record in a season promised as one of a return to national relevance is a much harder sell.
That’s where Lobos coach Craig Neal finds himself. He’s a coach saying nearly the same things Tuesday night in Tucson as his coaching counterpart, but having his words fall on the ears of a frustrated fan base that’s losing patience.
But are his words now falling on the ears of a team that has quit on him? “No, they’re not doing that,” Neal said. “I think they’re responding. I just think that we played a real good basketball team.”
For the second game in a row, the Lobos started a lineup that Neal changed after an 84-71 loss at New Mexico State on Dec. 10. At that point, the coach made it clear he would no longer allow players not putting in the effort on the defensive
side of the court to start or see extended minutes.
Tuesday, he said the team is still adjusting, but he won’t change his course.
“Guys are going to play the right way, and guys are going to do what we ask them to do defensively and offensively,” Neal said. “I think we’re making some strides.”
The very apparent problem Tuesday for a team making such lineup adjustments for the team’s 12th game of the season was that the offense looked lost. After all, it had practiced for much of the past year as a unit based on having the insideout threat of Tim Williams and Elijah Brown being on the floor together.
At least for now, as Brown comes off the bench, that appears out the window.
Brown sat until the first media timeout, at the 15:45 mark of the first half, with the Lobos trailing 9-0. Arizona led 12-0 before a Williams jumper ended the drought at the 14:08 mark.
Miller admitted his team’s game plan focused on Williams, and the Wildcats clearly felt no other threat from the Lobo offense when Brown wasn’t playing. Even when Brown was, the troubling lack of cohesion was clear.
But the Arizona coach, whose team is working through lineup shuffling of its own with a stillunspecified suspension for sophomore star Allonzo Trier and an injury to starting point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright, wasn’t about to question the midseason shuffling going on in Lobo Land.
“Hey, look. Craig Neal, he knows his team a lot better than I do,” said Miller. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s really a good coach.
“Sometimes in nonconference play, you have to figure some things out. We’re the ultimate example of that. I think nights
like tonight may really help them come conference play.” CONFIDENT IN CONFERENCE? After Tuesday’s 31-point loss, Neal was asked if adjusting expectations for league play is in order.
“We’re going to try and compete and win a conference,” Neal said, flashing a large smile. “That’s what our goal is. ... Yeah. I’m confident. I have to be confident.”
The Lobos were picked by media to finish third in the 11-team league in the preseason poll after San Diego State (5-4) and Nevada (10-2). ’TIS THE SEASON: New Mexico has lost its final game before Christmas each of the past three seasons and in four of the past five years. Last year, it also lost a game on Christmas Day.
Sometimes, Miller said, games played just before players go home for the holidays often lead to let-down performances.
“You know it happens the day before you leave for Christmas break,” Miller said. “They’re in the same situation as we are, except they happen to be on the road.”
GAME TIME: ESPN on Wednesday announced the Jan. 10 UNLV game in the Pit will start at 7 p.m. and be streamed online on ESPN3.com instead of being televised.